


Operation: Fix Choni

by HidingBehindAGlassWall



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Cheryl Blossom Needs a Hug, Cheryls a bit of a meanie, F/F, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Toni Topaz Needs a Hug, choni break up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:16:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24912958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HidingBehindAGlassWall/pseuds/HidingBehindAGlassWall
Summary: Archie looks up at Veronica, a confused look on his face, “wait Cheryl and Toni broke up?”All eyes land on Veronica, some with concern some with confusion.“As much as I wish I were lying,” Veronica sighs, ”it’s true. I got a message from Toni late Friday night asking if she could crash at mine for a bit, I said yes of course, and she’s been moping around the Pembrooke ever since.”————After Veronica drops the bomb about Cheryl and Toni’s breakup, the gang try to come up with a way to get them back together.It’s going to be mostly canon but not completely, and hopefully it will fill in some gaps that Riverdale so lovingly gave us.Yeahhh so I'm sidelining this, sorry, I will pick it up again but it's just not sitting in my head right.
Relationships: Archie Andrews/Josie McCoy, Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones, Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz, Im not tagging everyone but they’re all friends, Veronica Lodge/Reggie Mantle
Comments: 18
Kudos: 96





	Operation: Fix Choni

**Author's Note:**

> Hi :)  
> This is something a bit different from me but we’ll see what happens! I have no idea how many chapters it’s going to be but I do plan to write more if it goes down well so let me know your thoughts! 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!
> 
> Twitter: @The NigelTopaz  
> 
> 
> I realised my mistake in mixing up Carrie/Heathers and Josie and Cheryl’s situation, so I’ve now edited this fic and changed that so all is forgiven!

It was early Monday morning at Riverdale High, 30 minutes before class began, and the common area was filled with the usual people, save for Cheryl and Toni - who none of them had seen or heard from since Friday at La Bonne Nuit - and Veronica. Everyone was relaxing before the start of another trying week when the latter walked through the door, aiming straight for the sofa and wiggling her way into a barely there gap between Betty and Josie, “listen up losers, we have a problem.” 

At this, Reggie and Kevin both looked up from their phones, speaking over each other, 

“Speak for yourself Veronica I’m one of the most popular guys in this place” 

“If you’re talking about how Heathers rehearsals starts next week and I have yet to finish the cast list, which is supposed to go up tomorrow, then yes, big problem.”

Veronica regards the both of them, realising they’re both deadly serious and lets out a sigh, “no boys, this is serious, Choni broke up.” Jughead let out a snort, “who, or what is a Choni?” Kevin looks over to Jughead with a panicked look on his face, as Josie and Betty share knowing and worried looks of their own, “for your information, Choni is the couple name given to the greatest power couple ever to grace the hallways of this school, Cheryl and Toni.”

Archie looks up at Veronica, a confused look on his face, “wait Cheryl and Toni broke up?” 

All eyes land on Veronica, some with concern some with confusion, “as much as it pains me to admit” she sighs, “yes Cheryl and Toni broke up.” 

Even Reggie looks surprised, “Nahh that can’t be right, I saw them at Pops the beginning of last week and let me tell you the kiss I witnessed was not pg-13.” 

As he finishes, Sweet Pea and Fangs enter the common room, being the last to arrive as always, and approach the group, “hey guys, wait why do your faces all look like that?” 

“Cheryl and Toni broke up.” 

“Wait what?” 

Fangs and Sweet Pea exchange a look before turning back to the group, “wait when, didn’t we literally have to threaten them with a PDA ban two weeks ago for how handsy they were getting at lunch? How have they gone from that to broken up?”

“As much as I wish I were lying,” Veronica sighs, ”it’s true. I got a message from Toni late Friday night asking if she could crash at mine for a bit, I said yes of course, and she’s been moping around the Pembrooke ever since.” 

Sweet Pea thinks back to Friday night when Toni had asked him a similar question. “Wait so that must’ve been after she messaged me,” everyone looked to him, “Tiny T messaged me asking if she could crash at my trailer for a bit - it’s one of the only ones left standing after the riots - I said normally of course she could but my brother’s down from LA for the week and he’s using the couch. He’s leaving on Sunday though so Tiny T can come stay with me from then if she wants” 

“Let’s hope it doesn’t get to Sunday,” Veronica comments dejectedly, her heart hurt remembering how upset Toni had been all weekend, but ultimately knowing it was likely going to take longer than a week for this to be fixed. 

Reggie’s eyebrows raised, “Wait your brother lives in LA?”

“Yeah, Michael, he owns a pool cleaning company out there.” Reggie lets out a snort, “sounds like a good plan, I bet he gets a lot of attention from the ladies.”

“Speaking of attention,” Josie speaks out, irritated by Reggies comment, glancing at Archie, “can we turn ours back to the issue at hand? V did Toni say why they broke up?” 

Veronica paused, remembering back to Friday night - or, technically the early hours of Saturday morning - and how Toni had been utterly inconsolable the second she stepped into Veronicas home. “Toni didn’t say much, just that she’d finally spoken to Cheryl about the bad vibes that have been happening between the two of them, which, I don’t know about you guys but I wasn’t aware of, and how she’s been feeling cooped up at Thistlehouse and maybe they were moving too quickly. Apparently when she spoke to Cheryl about it they argued and Cheryl told her that she should move out, and then sent her a text 10 minutes later informing her of the ‘termination of their relationship as well as their living arrangements’. Also, later on, she told me to delete the camera security footage for La Bonnie Nuit on Friday night, which as much as I’m confused as to why, I trust her, and so Reggie can you do that when you get to work later? Oh and Toni made me promise not to look, so please refrain from watching it.” Although confused at the request, Reggie assumes that perhaps the footage in question was of the argument that had transpired between the pair, resulting in their split, he gave Veronica a cheeky salute, “sure thing boss.”

A quiet settled over the group for a few moments, Betty was the one to break it, “has anyone spoken to Cheryl?” No one replied, so Betty pulled out her phone and sent a message to her cousin saying she’d heard what happened and was she okay, whilst Sweet Pea and Fangs sent similar messages to Toni - she might not have been a Serpent externally anymore, but she was still one at heart. That, and Toni was like a sister to them, gang differences be damned.

Kevin spoke up, “Okay so what do we do?” “Kev it’s not really our place to get involved.” Glancing at Fangs, Kevin drew in a breath. “No I’m sorry Betty, but it absolutely is, we all know that Toni and Cheryl are Riverdales very own Romeo and Juliette, we can’t let this break up continue, we have to do something!” 

The group fell silent once more, whilst they all wanted to do something, no one was quite sure what it was they could do.

It was Reggie who broke the quiet this time, “look, we all know I’m not one for soppiness, but Kevin’s right,” everyone regarded him with varying degrees of shock on their faces. “Cheryl and Toni are one of the only half decent couples in this place, we all know how much Cheryl has changed for the better since they got together, and Toni, well Toni’s like my tiny bro and bros look out for each other,” Reggie finished with a shrug. 

“I agree,” Josie spoke up, “all of us know how important those two are to each other, we can’t let a stupid argument or whatever happened break them up, they’ve been through too much for that.”

“I agree,” it was Archie who spoke next, eyes flitting from Josie to Veronica, his comment soon followed by similar murmurs of agreement from the rest of the group. 

Betty looked to the others, whilst she was unsure about getting involved in her cousin and Toni’s relationship, she had to admit it made her smile to see Cheryl finally allowing herself to be happy, “okay so how do we do this?” 

All eyes moved to Veronica, considering she was the one who first brought them the news, “don’t look at me I have no clue, why don’t we ask our resident schemer?” Veronica looks to Jughead, who before now had been unusually quiet, he felt guilty, knowing that the people Toni should have been able to fall back on, her true family, had made her unwelcome thanks to him, only a few weeks before, hopefully he could fix more than one thing here. 

“Well,” he began, “we have 5 minutes until the bell, and I don’t know about you guys but Operation: Fix Choni isn’t something that’s going to be able to be created that quickly. Why don’t we spend the morning thinking and then we can reconvene at lunch and see what we have? I know Cheryl isn’t in today, and knowing Toni she won’t be either,” he looks to Veronica who shakes her head. She’d left the pink haired girl in question behind in bed this morning, covering her with the coziest blanket she could find and informing her she’d pick up any work Toni would need to catch up on. 

“Wait, Jug,” Fangs spoke up, “how do you know Cheryl won’t be in today?” 

“She messaged me this morning saying she wouldn’t be in, and asked if I could get any work from our AP English and if she could also borrow my notes.” 

He looked at Josie as a surprised laugh left her mouth, “what, why is it so hard to believe that Cheryl would message me?” Josie simply laughed again, “Jughead, you kicked her and Toni out the Serpents and the girl walks around calling you names including hobo, go figure.” 

Betty stood, looking at her phone and seeing they only had a couple minutes before the bell rang, not wanting to be late for class, “okay, well you heard Jug, let’s all have a think and then see what we have at lunch. Also Kev I need to speak to you, walk with me?” Betty grabbed her bag, looking pointedly at him, she was going to find out what he’d been getting up to with the weird Farm girl ‘Evelyn’ if it killed her. 

Everyone else took that as their queue and collected their things, thoughts on how they could create a plan to get their two friends back together. “Wait,” everyone looked to Sweet Pea who had already made his way to the door, “Jug did you call it Operation: Fix Choni?” The boy in question simply laughs, “well, that’s the plan isn’t it, to fix Cheryl and Toni’s relationship and get them back together?” Betty sends him an endearing smile before looping her arm round Kevins, dragging him towards their biology class, questioning him about his ever growing involvement with the group that had infiltrated her home. Everyone else also leaving the room, dispersing to their morning lessons. 

——— 

Three classes later and Archie makes his way into the cafeteria, for lunch hour. He heads over to the groups usual table and is surprised to see certain people that usually would sit elsewhere, Reggie usually with the Bulldogs, Josie and Kevin usually with the ex-Pussycats and varying members of the theatre group, Fangs and Sweet Pea usually with the other Serpents. Clearly everyone had taken this mornings conversation to heart and they were all serious about wanting to come up with a plan to help fix things for Cheryl and Toni. As he reached the table with his lunch, sitting between Josie and Kevin, Archie heard Jug ask if anyone had come up with any ideas. 

“Well, if I know Cheryl as well as I think I do” Josie spoke up, “then Cheryl is going to be heartbroken, but like always she’ll burry it down, pretend she’s fine and lay it on thick with the insults”. 

“Tiny T will do the same,” Fangs spoke up, “she’ll hide how she’s feeling behind her tough girl, too cool to care, act but underneath it all she’ll be devastated”. 

“I can confirm the ‘devastated’,” remarks Veronica sadly. 

“Well if Cheryl’s text is anything to go by, she’s already started with the pretending,” Betty recalls the response she’d received from her cousin during maths that morning, whilst she’d expected some form of snarky comment from the redhead, she wasn’t quite prepared for the response she received. 

Pulling out her phone Betty read Cheryl’s response to the rest of the group. “Whilst I’m unsurprised at the speed in which gossip travels round this hell-hole of a town, the source of your information would be correct, Toni and I have indeed parted ways, with both our relationship and our living arrangements. Whilst I appreciate you checking in dearest cousin, I’m fine. Besides, don’t you and that lice-infested beanie-boy of yours have some ridiculous story to concoct for the non-existent readers of the Blue and Gold? x” 

Reggie choked on his drink at the same time that Sweet Pea’s fork clattered to the table, both of them unable to resist laughing at Cheryl’s words, both repeating, “lice-infested beanie-boy.” No one on the table, save for Jughead, was able to contain their laughter at Cheryls comment and the boys reactions. Betty places a sympathetic hand on Jugs shoulder and presses a gentle kiss to his cheek, “you know she doesn’t mean it Jug, she’s just lashing out.” 

“Whilst I agree that Cheryl’s words are more from spite than anything, this means she’s already on the warpath, what are we going to do?” Kevin questions the group, all of them glancing at each other. 

“We need a way to bring them together, to force them to be in the same space,” Veronica voiced the thought she’d spent the morning ignoring her teachers in favour for, “both of them are stubborn, that much is obvious, neither of them will be willing to make the first move, especially as for whatever reasons, they’re both in the wrong here, so we need a way to force them into each others space.” 

“Well considering they’ve both skipped school today simply to avoid running into each other,” Reggie points out, “that might be harder than you think V.” 

“What about the musical?” All eyes move to Archie, ”it’s Heathers right, as per Cheryl’s request?” 

“It is, but I think this calls for a bit more of a delicate touch than casting them opposite each other in the school musical,” Kevin responded, but still pulling out the cast list from his bag, a couple of empty spaces on the sheet. “None of you should be seeing this until tomorrow, but at this point I have some unfilled spaces and people to cast, and I’m highly stressed about it, so maybe we can cover two birds with one stone.” Kevin places the cast list on the table facing down, “and naturally it goes without saying that I’m breaking more than one rule of the theatre here, so when you see your names I don’t care how excited you are, you better keep quiet about it until tomorrow when the list officially goes up.” Upon receiving agreement from everyone in the group, Kevin turns the list over. Josie lets out an excited squeal upon seeing her role, but when she sees the glare Kevin directs her way she quietens and places a kiss on his cheek, “thank you Kev I can’t wait”. Veronica also sending Kevin an appreciative smile across the table, while Sweet Pea mutters, “crushed it.”

Most of the list had been filed in, save for one or two spaces. Cheryl’s roll being Heather Chandler of course, but Toni’s name yet to appear on the sheet. “I wasn’t sure where to put her,” Kevin admits bashfully, “I wanted to give her a bigger part after Carrie last year, but by the time I’d done you guys this is all I have left.” 

“Wait no Kevin that’s perfect,” Veronica speaks up, clearly forming some kind of plan in her head. “I know exactly what role you can give Toni, it makes perfect sense.”

“What? Who?”

“That one.” 

Everyone looks to the list, Veronica’s manicured finger pointing at a currently empty box. 

“Choreographer, what?” Betty looks up to Veronica, unsure of where she was going with this “but V why would that make perfect sense?”

“Because dear Betty, if Kevin gives her a smaller role-” Veronica looks to see the last empty space beside the principle roles, “-Betty Finn, and choreographer, not only would Toni have a part in the musical, but she would also be helping to create it...” Veronica trailed off, watching the dots connecting in the minds of the other members of their table. 

Apart from one.

“Wait I still don’t get it, why is Toni being the choreographer of the musical gonna work?” “Oh, dear Archie”, Veronica looks to him, missing the way Josies eyes narrow at her, “one, because despite having a smaller role cast wise, being choreographer will require Toni to be at every rehearsal, of which Cheryl will also be in attendance, therefore maximising the amount of time they spend together. Two, Toni will be in charge of Cheryl, she’ll be the one taking all the dance calls and her ranking will be technically higher than Cheryl’s, and Cherry Bombshell won’t like that, this resulting in a power battle, which need I remind you was the basis of their friendship in the good ole days. And three, Toni is a full on smoke show, even just normally, but especially when she dances. And considering not only how good Toni looked in her Vixens audition routine, but also the vibes of the musical, she’ll be up there looking hot as hell, and Cheryl won’t be able to resist.” 

Josie lets out a cough, “I don’t think she’s the only one, you okay there V, someone else hot for Toni?” Josie gives her a joking look, but doesn’t miss the way Reggie is looking at Veronica, as if he’s missed the joke and thinks Josie’s being serious. 

“Wait V, that’s actually kinda genius” 

“Why thank you Sweet Pea, I’m not just a pretty face I’ll have you know” 

“No it’s exactly like you said, but from Tiny T’s viewpoint, she’ll be in charge, and knowing T she’ll run with it. Cheryl won’t know what hit her. Plus she’ll also have to endure Cheryl giving it back to her in the dances just as much, and we know that T’s a gonner for her.” 

The group all smiled at the memories they had of Toni constantly drooling over Cheryl. Fangs in particular, remembering when Cheryl had walked down the hallway passing Toni, who was with Fangs walking in the opposite direction. Cheryl wearing that particular pair of black skinny jeans, that made her butt look oh so good, Toni being unable to take her eyes of Cheryl’s ass had walked headfirst into the wall of lockers at the end of the hallway, Cheryl finding hilarity in the way she could bring this tough gang member to her knees. 

“It’s perfect,” Sweet Pea took over, “especially seeing Cheryl in those costumes, you know what’s she’s like when Cheryl wears a skirt, she can’t keep her hands off her, T will be a mess.” The group all share a chuckle, but Jughead speaks up, underlying his issue with their plan. “Okay but it’s Operation Fix Choni, not Operation have Choni drooling over each other from other ends of the room but still not talking.” 

“Dude that’s a long ass title” mutters Reggie under his breath, Veronica slapping him lightly on the arm. 

“Okay Mr sour, what do you propose?” 

“Well Veronica, whilst I do agree that casting Toni not only in the role but also as Choreographer would kickstart our plan, and also fill two spaces for Kevin on the list - thus leaving only a couple of ensemble members to chose, which I assume, is simple enough - it’s not enough to just have them in the same room. They still won’t talk to each other, they’re too stubborn.”

“Jugs right,” Archie comments, “Cheryl won’t back down from this and Toni doesn’t seem like she’ll break first either, we have to do something that will bring them together and kickstart them talking about whatever happened between them.” “As much as I love Toni and Cheryl, I am growing increasingly worried about the implications of hijacking my musicals rehearsals for the sole purpose of getting them to talk to each other.” 

Betty spoke up, having contemplated the different angles of their scheme she saw a way to get the two stubborn girls talking, “we have to make them jealous.” 

“Betty what?”

“We have to do something that will make one of them jealous, then even though they might be angry at each other, they’ll still recognise jealousy and at first they’ll be mad at themselves, but then they’ll start thinking about why they’re jealous and they’ll work out they clearly still have feelings for each other.” 

“She does have a point,” Sweet Pea, his eyes flitting between Josie and Archie as subtly as he could, knowing there was something going on between them, “jealousy does interesting things, and especially those two, they have their whole history together, they won’t be able to just forget that,” it became clear to Josie that perhaps Sweet Pea wasn’t just talking about the two girls in question, instead referring to her new boy’s previous relationship with Veronica. 

“I’ll do it.”

“Veronica, what?”

“No Betty, I can do it, it’s simple. Besides Toni’s staying with me, and when she comes back to school tomorrow, as much as I love Cheryl, Antionette doesn’t exactly have a big group of people she feels comfortable around right now, as much as Cheryl is my friend, Toni’s going to need my support.” 

Jughead, Sweet Pea and Fangs all have the decency to look away, guilt flashing across their faces, knowing Toni still feels varying degrees of betrayal from them all, that much was clear, despite having patched things up between them, she still hadn’t responded to the boys earlier messages, instead leaving them on read. 

Josie laughs, “I know damn well that Toni doesn’t let you call her by her full name, she rarely even let Cheryl call her that.” 

“That’s why it perfect,” Jughead spoke up, “Toni’s staying with V, over the next couple of weeks the two of them will only grow even closer. V, you already have certain privileges from Toni, you can use that to make Cheryl jealous, and in turn Cheryl will get mad at herself for being jealous in the first place, then she’ll wonder why she’s jealous when they’re broken up, and then lightbulb moment, Cheryl will realise that she still has feelings for Toni, that’s why she’s mad at Veronica, because she’s angry that the things she’s watching happen used to be things she had, and then she’ll confront Toni, they’ll talk it out, make up, and everything will be sorted!”

Fangs let out a quiet laugh, trying to follow everything Jug has said, “Tiny T did always say she was a gonner for a pretty girl who knew how to flirt.” 

“From the sounds of her comments earlier it doesn’t seem like flirting with Toni is something Ronnie would find hard to do,” Reggie makes the sarcastic comment, as Veronica looks over to him, “what, is someone getting jealous themselves?” 

Before he can retort, a figure approaches the table, “Hey guys, Kevin may I steal you away for a second, I have some thoughts regarding what you asked me earlier.”

Kevin turns to face Evelyn whilst Fangs gives her a smile across the table. “Oh, um, yeah sure, just give me one second.” 

Kevin turns back to the table, reaching for the cast list still laying in the middle of it. “So is that the plan then?” He asks, “get Cheryl and Toni constantly in the same room, Veronica flirts with Toni to make Cheryl jealous, Cheryl then has an inner war with herself and realises she still loves Toni, and then goes to fight Veronica for her girl.” 

“Well when you put it like that Kevin,” Betty starts laughing. “I think it’s a good plan though, yes we need to smooth out the details, and we’ll also need to be there for the both of them, we know what they’re like. Both of them are going to hide behind walls and exteriors but underneath it all they’re both going to be heartbroken, so please can we tread very carefully, with both of them?” Betty makes a point of looking round them table, waiting for everyone to nod in agreement. 

Kevin grabs his lunch tray and bag, standing up he glances at the others, “okay well I need to go discuss some things with Evelyn, but I have hopes for this, I think if we all play our parts right, it might just work.” 

“Kev...” Betty tries to ask what he’s talking to Evelyn about but he interrupts her. “No Betty, not right now, I need to go okay?”

Kevin takes one last look around the table before turning to Evelyn, both of them heading out of the cafeteria. Fangs looks at them go, “uhh yeah I’m gonna go join them, but good plan, maybe we should make a group chat so we can keep updated? Just a thought!” Fangs swings his bag over his shoulder as he turns to run after the duo, dumping his rubbish in the bin as he goes. 

“Well there’s only 10 minutes of lunch left so I’m gonna head to class, you know what Mr Williams is like if you’re not on time.” Jug collects his things and stands, “but uh, honestly I think this could work you know. I know there’s stuff that happened between us, but I want Toni to be happy, and I know that she gets that with Cheryl, so yeah, I want to make this right for them.” 

Veronica looks around the group of them, probably one of the most random collections of people in this school, but all wanting nothing more than for Toni and Cheryl to get over themselves and get back together. She knew the two girls would reconcile eventually, they were meant to be together - anyone with a brain cell knew that - it’s not their fault if they both just needed a little nudge. “Okay, she takes a breath, pulling out her phone to make that group chat Fangs proposed. “Operation: Fix Choni, is a go”.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if you liked and if this is something you want to see more of!  
> Luce :)


End file.
